Nepal, March 13 -- As the Tribhuvan University prepares to conduct a vote on March 18 to elect representatives of student unions in over 1,000 colleges across the country, campuses have been caught up in election fever. Student aspirants have intensified their campaigns to be elected office bearers or members of Free Student Union (FSU) in their colleges. Yet the ailments that afflicted these elections in the past are starting to crop up again. Despite being the election to elect student representatives in colleges, the campaign, lobbying and rivalry go much beyond the students and colleges.

Major political parties are intensely involved, so much so that the factional rivalry in a political party is often reflected in the FSU polls. Seni...